Going Rogue
by CantHoldOn
Summary: Mostly AU. Many main characters have either been captured by or work for the Umbrella Corporation. Not everything is as it seems, though. Umbrella thinks they are in control, but are they right? Alice/Claire
1. Chapter 1

**Here is my new story as promised. There are just a few little things I want to clear up before we get started. Anything in italics has happened in the past, and we'll probably get a little bit of that past with most of the chapters.**

**Summary: Mostly AU fic. The only thing that is being left intact as far as timelines go is the first movie - except for the fact that Rain will live, because she's just so awesome. When this story picks up, many characters have either been captured by or work for Umbrella - those characters and their status will be revealed throughout the story. But not everything is as it seems. Though they may work for the corporation, it doesn't mean they like it. Who's loyal to who? Who's plotting against who? And who... is going rogue?**

**Disclaimer: I do not, nor will I at any point during this story own the Resident Evil characters.**

* * *

_The pain had manifested itself as blinding white heat, and it was the first thing she remembered when her eyes shot open. There were people talking around her in the white room._

"_Dr. Isaacs, she's awake," a nurse stated._

"_And it only took three tries," the doctor said as he moved closer. "Cain, come have a look."_

_Another man moved closer to her. The fight or flight instinct was starting to kick in and it was telling her she needed to fight… in order to fly. As the two doctors were talking over her, she gathered up the strength and will to move._

_When she did move, it was all in a flash. She reached up and yanked an IV from her arm, wrapping the line around Isaacs' throat; as she sat up to get a better grip on the line, she sent a fist at Cain, hitting him hard enough to snap his neck._

_The nurses were panicking; one of them ran over to the door and hit the alarm on the keypad. Obviously they didn't stand a chance against the newly awakened Project._

_Isaacs was struggling against Alice's grip, but it was in vain. She had the line wrapped tightly around his throat and his thrashing was only wasting the few precious breaths he had left._

"_Open the door," she ordered the nurse closest to the door as she stood up. Her voice was hoarse from a lack of use. How long had she been out?_

_The male nurse offered a timid nod, having to try and type in the code a few times before the red light turned green. She heard the faintest of clicks, pretty sure she shouldn't have been able to hear something so quiet. Now that she thought about it, she felt much stronger than she remembered._

_Once the door opened, she yanked Isaacs around and tossed him at the nurses. She quickly moved out of the room, finding herself in an empty hall. That was convenient. Now she just needed to find a way out._

_Alice gathered up a doctor's coat that was lying on a gurney before rounding a corner. Her memories were coming back in scattered bits and pieces. It was hard to keep things straight, but it was slowly working itself out._

_She rounded another corner and found herself face to face with a couple dozen well armed Umbrella soldiers. All but three of them had helmets on. Two of them that she could see were women – one with long red hair and the other had short black hair – and the last was a man with an eye patch._

"Grenade!" someone shouted, but the warning didn't put an end to the shootout. It was hard to say which side the explosion was meant to rock, because it only got out in the middle of no man's land. It did, however, knock a few people off balance.

The objective had been a clear one: get on the ground, round up the survivors, take them back to the Arcadia. It was a simple enough task. That was, until a few of the soldiers went against their orders.

"Alice! I need some headway!" Carlos shouted, hoping that the blonde could hear him over all of the gunfire. They'd needed her to cut radio communications with her telekinetic powers so the other soldiers couldn't call for help.

"I'm a little busy!" Alice yelled back. A few moments later, though, the ground shook as she gave Carlos the room he needed. A huge wave of telekinetic power plowed into the row of Umbrella soldiers, even digging up the ground in the process.

Carlos moved away from the wall he'd been pinned against, firing his M16 at the soldiers Alice hadn't managed to hit. "Jill! Where are you at?" he shouted.

"I'm right here!" Jill snapped, stepping up beside him.

"Oh… hey," Carlos said, glancing over to the woman. "We need to wrap this up."

The three had originally been sent in with the soldiers they were now fighting. Umbrella had learned of a pocket of survivors and wanted a fresh batch of people to experiment on. The past few missions went the same way as this one. They hit the ground and turned on the other agents, thus saving the survivors and sending the people on their way.

"Don't tell me, tell Rambo over there," Jill replied.

"I heard that!" Alice shouted over to them as she used a baton to shatter another soldier's helmet. A knife flew from her hand and into someone else's throat as she flipped and planted her foot in another's face at the same time.

"Then do something about it!" Jill told the blonde.

Alice pulled her M16 back up, firing at the soldiers. "Go! I'll cover you!" she ordered.

Carlos and Jill didn't miss a beat. As soon as Alice told them to go, that was what they did. They took advantage of the cover fire she offered, getting themselves into an old bunker where the survivors were holed up. Once they were inside, they found half a dozen guns pointed at them.

"Take it easy," Carlos told them, holding up a hand to show they weren't there for trouble. "We're here to help."

"We've heard about you," an older man spat. "Black suits and guns… comin' to take whatever free people you can find."

"If you hadn't noticed, we've been out there fighting them so you could escape," Jill pointed out. She pulled a folded up piece of paper from her pocket, holding it out for anyone in the group who would take it. "This is a map. On it, you'll find a route to a new safe place to stay and suggestions of where to stop for supplies."

"How do we know it's not a trap?" the same older man inquired.

"Because there were three of us out there fighting two dozen people that thought we were on their side. We're about the only ones left standing," Carlos answered. "And if we stay here too long, we'll get caught and probably killed. We're risking our own lives, and the lives of others, to try and help you get away from Umbrella."

No one moved or said a word. It was obvious they were wary of this so called help. Finally, a woman who looked to be barely in her twenties stepped forward and took the map. "If they really are risking their lives for us, we should at least take the chance that they're telling the truth," she told her comrades.

Carlos offered her a grateful nod. "Go out the back, stay low and stay quiet. Travel as quickly as you can and try not to stay anywhere too long until you get to the destination on there. A man named Chris will be waiting there to help you finish the rest of the journey," he said.

After that, he and Jill headed back out. The gunfire from earlier had stopped and the street looked to be nothing more than rubble. They saw Alice perched on a charred piece of a broken vehicle, cigarette in her mouth as she surveyed the damage.

"They get out?" Alice asked when her two comrades emerged back onto the debris ridden street.

"Yep, and were suspicious as ever," Carlos said with a nod.

"I say they're afraid of you, Patchy," Jill told him teasingly.

The man reached up to touch the patch that rested over his left eye – a scar jutted out the top and bottom of the cloth. "Be nice," he said, feigning a pout.

"All right, children, that's enough. So… how are we going to cover up this one?" the blonde inquired, tossing the cigarette butt on the ground and stomping it out with a booted foot. This was the fourth mission that had ended with the deaths of all the soldiers they'd been sent with.

Suspicions were already starting to rise about them.


	2. Chapter 2

"_Easy, it's all right," the redhead said, taking a step forward._

_Alice didn't have much of a choice but to be easy. There were nearly two dozen red dots covering her – all but the three soldiers without helmets had guns pointed at her._

"_You're going to have to come with us," the redheaded woman continued. "I'd recommend doing it willingly. Do you understand?"_

_Alice glanced around, taking stock of the situation. At the moment, she didn't have much of a choice but to comply. Finally, she offered a nod._

"_Good," the redhead nodded as well. "Jill, Carlos."_

_The woman with short black hair and man with the eye patch moved forward. Each of them took one of her arms and led her after the group of soldiers that turned and filed out of the hospital. There was a fleet of black SUVs waiting outside the building._

"_She's riding with us," the redheaded woman spoke again as she headed to the first vehicle in line._

"_You got it, Claire," the man, Carlos, replied. He and Jill led Alice to the vehicle, getting into the backseat with her._

_The redhead, apparently named Claire, was already speaking again by the time they had settled in the backseat. "LJ, radio in that we've got Project Alice. Dr. Cain is dead, they're trying to work on Isaacs. We're heading back to the facility now."_

_The driver nodded and got on the radio as he pulled the vehicle away from the curbside. Glancing back, Alice could see that the other SUVs pulled out behind them. "What's going on?" she asked anyone who wanted to answer._

_There was no answer. The driver was still on the radio, getting confirmation that they were clear to return to the main facility with the Project._

"_What did they do to me?" Alice further pressed._

_When the driver finally switched the radio off, Claire turned around in the front seat to look back at the blonde. "You don't remember?" she asked in return._

"_I remember some things… but not all," Alice answered._

"_They infected you with the T-virus, you remember that?"_

_Alice was silent for a moment, thinking back. The Raccoon City Hive… she'd been a security operative there… the outbreak inside the facility. A frown creased her brow as she remembered._

"_I'll take that as a yes," Claire commented. "They infected you with it directly. They wanted to see what would happen. I haven't gotten all the details yet, but obviously they succeeded-"_

"_- But -"_

"_- And I suggest that if you want revenge for what they did to you, you play along and stick with us," the redhead finished despite the fact that Alice had tried to interrupt._

* * *

"Shit," Alice swore as the _Arcadia_ came into sight. There were a couple of helicopters already on deck and half a dozen smaller watercraft surrounding it.

"I think they know we've been bad," Carlos commented.

Jill was piloting their helicopter. She reached up to press the headset a bit closer to her ear so she could listen. "They're telling us to land… now," she announced after a voice had buzzed in over the radio. "And they don't sound very happy."

"Maybe we should have been a little quieter this time," Alice suggested.

"Because we could have managed it so much quieter," Jill replied, sarcasm lacing her voice like a deadly poison.

The blonde merely shrugged; Jill's venom didn't even faze her. As they drew closer to the ship that was their base of operations, all of them could see armed soldiers around the deck's perimeter. Whatever ranking officers that had come to chastise them were likely already waiting on the bridge.

"Ladies… time to face the music," Carlos announced as the helicopter touched down on the ship's deck. Almost immediately there were several armed agents around their aircraft.

"Back off, boys," Alice warned them as she dropped down onto the deck. The three were smart enough not to tote their weapons out. If they were getting a visit right after a botched mission, then everyone was likely already on edge.

The three of them were directed up to the bridge, as expected. Inside, they found a few familiar faces: Claire Redfield, their direct supervisor though they rarely saw her; Rain Ocampo, the biohazard containment team leader; Luther West, Claire's boss; and Alexander Slater, their liaison between the field and the Umbrella executives.

"To what do we owe the pleasure?" Jill inquired, nudging Alice – who had gotten slightly distracted when she saw Claire – along.

"This is the fourth mission where you three are the only ones to make it back alive," Luther answered. "We are concerned about what's going on once you engage a mission."

"Maybe you should be glad that your most valuable assets are coming back at all," she told him.

"People are getting suspicious and they're ready by the time we get there," Carlos added. "Word is spreading that we're going after survivors – they knew about us and why we showed up."

"Maybe you should be a little more quiet when you move in," Rain put her two cents in.

"That's easy for you to say, your targets are already mostly dead," Jill shot back.

"Enough," Alexander cut in sharply. "Don't bicker like children. We have serious issues to deal with. I'll have you know that we aren't meant to leave until we find out what exactly has happened in your last few ruined missions."

"Under whose authority?" Alice finally spoke up.

Alexander's attention turned to the blonde. "Chairman Wesker. He is tired of wasting resources and getting nothing in return for them."

Well damn, that certainly threw a snag into her plan. Anyone else, she would have argued until she got these people off her ship. Orders from Wesker, those couldn't be argued with. "We're happy to go over any questions you may have," she lied expertly.

"Good," Alexander told her with a nod. "You are to come with me for _immediate_ debriefing, after which we will decide the best course of action." He stepped back and motioned the three field officers past him. He didn't want any interference or distraction while they were talking.

After they had filed past, Luther turned to follow them. Alexander held up his hand to stop the other man. "_Alone_," he said. "No one is coming in or out of this room until I am finished with them." He turned and walked into the room, closing and locking the door behind himself.

Alice, Carlos, and Jill had already sat down at the table in the middle of the room. They were on one side of the table and Alexander sat down on the other. He studied them for a long moment before speaking. "What do you have to say for yourselves?"

"Carlos mentioned earlier that these people were ready for us by the time we got there… it's true," Alice said. She was looking the younger man straight in the eye and lying right to his face. "These people were fully aware of who we were and what our intentions were… and they didn't feel like getting captured."

Alexander was always a bit unnerved by the Project's intensity; despite his best efforts to hide his discomfort, it wasn't always easy. "We are well aware that the three of you, by yourselves, could take out any threat you come across," he pointed out.

"Maybe that's why everyone else is dying," the blonde said coolly.

He wasn't prepared for such a quick comeback, especially one that came so easily. For just a moment, he was at a loss. "Recount your mission," he finally recovered.

This time it was Jill who spoke up. "Our two helicopters landed and we surveyed the area before moving forward. Alice, Carlos, and I moved forward first. We didn't get very far before enemy fire started. We engaged the enemy, but eventually the survivors managed to slip away." It was the truth, just not all of it.

Alexander listened to what Jill said before studying them once more. He was trying to detect any lies or see if there was more to this story. "Is this true?" he asked Carlos.

"Absolutely," the man answered with a nod. "And we can't exactly bring anyone back if we kill them all."

"They're only delaying the inevitable," Alice said boredly, leaning back in her seat. "We'll track them down again… and catch them."

The statement caught her two companions off guard, but they didn't let it show. Alexander, however, was actually quite pleased. "Very good. I'll speak with Chairman Wesker this evening… we'll be staying for at least another day."

"Of course," the blonde nodded. "We'd be happy to accommodate you."

Alexander looked them over before offering a nod and standing up. He left the room, not waiting for them to join him.

Jill glanced over to the woman sitting next to her. "How do you do it?" she asked.

"Lying gets pretty easy when a lot of lives are riding on it," Alice answered, getting up and leaving the room as well. She brushed past the others on the bridge, heading below deck for her private quarters. It had been a long day and engaging highly trained soldiers when they were so outnumbered definitely wasn't easy.

Though Claire was aboard the same ship at the moment, the blonde just wanted some time to herself. Besides, she was sure the younger woman would make sure her presence was known soon enough.

* * *

**A/N: Reviews make my world rotate and orbit around the sun. So to prevent this writer from becoming extinct, you should review and let me knwo what you think. ;)**


	3. Chapter 3

**I'm sure everyone came clamoring for the new chapter when they saw the "soon to be" part taken out of the summary and now it's actually Alice/Claire. Wait... what? There was no clamoring? No rushing mass of people stampeding to see why I took that part out? Well that's certainly disappointing. To those few of you that boredly clicked the story because it's updated, I salute you! xD**

**Anyways, yes, there is a reason that I took that part out of the summary. Read on to find out why. Hopefully it's not a disappointment.**

**And for those who may not be familiar: bokken are wooden swords used in training for various disciplines of martial arts. I love the ones that I have.**

**As always... Love it, hate it? Let me know.**

_The training facility had been cleared of everything inside. The tests were meant to be strictly controlled – at least whatever physical elements were within the facility at the time of the tests. They didn't want anyone improvising, especially the test subject. She was dangerous enough without anything extra to use as a weapon._

_Alice stood in the middle of the area, a black bokken in each hand. They'd made the mistake of giving her a real weapon only once. The wooden swords were bad enough; the collateral damage she could cause with them was extraordinary._

_The corporation put her through all kinds of tests: endurance, agility, fighting… They wanted to know just what their creation could do, plus they wanted to make sure she could fight anything that stood in _their_ way._

_A dozen men, all toting similar wooden weapons, filed into the training area with her and made a circle around Alice. She looked over the ones in front of her, assessing them – they were just standard issue Umbrella pawns. She figured these dozen weren't the only ones that she'd see before the fight was over._

_One of the men behind her stepped forward. His heel had barely come into contact with the floor again and she heard the movement, turning fluidly and swiping out with the bokken in her right hand. The left came up to parry another incoming attack as she used the right to hit the first attacker with the broad side of the wooden sword._

_She took a step forward, blocking and attacking with ease. It almost seemed like she was a step ahead of the soldiers around her; they'd gone from carefully practiced training to actually trying to attack her in a matter of moments. Two or three would move in at the same time, hoping for strength in numbers, but only ended up knocked down like all the others._

_The bokken seemed to be extensions of Alice's arms. She didn't even look like she needed to think about what to do next. Where most would wait and react, she was anticipating and countering the men. In a normal fight, there would be too many – with the enhanced speed and strength the T-virus gave her, this was little more than a small inconvenience._

"_Jesus," Carlos commented from the observation deck. He, Jill, Claire, and a few others were watching the latest training session._

"_Makes you glad that she's on our side, doesn't it?" Claire inquired. Her double meaning passed by the other Umbrella workers unnoticed._

"_She's… amazing," Jill said. "Makes me feel sorry for whatever poor bastards she gets set on."_

"_I'm really surprised that Rain isn't trying to fight you for her," Carlos told their redheaded boss._

_Claire glanced over at him, quirking a brow slightly. "I put an end to that," she informed him._

_The man chuckled and shook his head. "I'm sure you did… Is that why we haven't heard from her in a week? She's still recovering?"_

"_Maybe," the redhead shrugged, turning her attention back to the fight. In the few moments she'd been distracted, Alice had downed all but four of the other soldiers. Another wave was rushing into the training room though._

"_Maybe we should train everyone else better," Jill suggested after a moment, watching Alice mow down more of the Umbrella agents. "I think we're just wasting her time and energy with these little play dates."_

"_These are training exercises designed to test and enhance her abilities," another Umbrella worker spoke up._

"_Really? She's just playing with them out there," the woman pointed out. "You sent in two dozen soldiers and only a handful are still standing."_

_Claire didn't stick around to hear what else was said between the two. She moved down from the observation deck, picking up a bokken for her own use before entering the training area. Now on the same level with Alice, the blonde was even more impressive. She'd seen Alice's fighting up close before, but the intensity was amazing._

_The floor was becoming a bit slick with blood as Alice dueled it out with the last couple of soldiers still standing. These guys needed to learn not to bleed so easily… they made quite a mess. _

_She swept one of the swords around and knocked one man off his feet, before bringing the sword back up and used it along with the second wooden blade to hit the last man across the side of the head. These so called 'training exercises' were just a waste of time._

_Movement from behind caught her attention – she expected one of the soldiers to have gotten up and try for a cheap shot. She spun and used the sword in her left hand to block the blade coming down toward her, bringing the other around to attack. Thankfully, she registered the attacker just in time to stop herself just millimeters from the impact._

_Claire, with her back turned toward the others, offered Alice a playful grin – to which she earned quite the glare. "Good," she said approvingly._

_They had talked about Claire pulling little stunts like that. It was dangerous; Alice would never forgive herself if she hurt the redhead. Alice gave the other woman a curt nod before they headed out of the facility._

* * *

Nights on the _Arcadia_ were fairly quiet. Only a skeleton crew stayed awake to keep the ship going and on the right path. That made Claire's journey all the quicker since she didn't have to actually sneak around.

She was on her way to Alice's cabin. Jill, Carlos, and the blonde all had quarters that were situated away from the main living area – they were some of Umbrella's most valuable property, after all. With that came a few nice privileges.

The redhead knew her way, even in the dark. When she came to Alice's cabin, she found the door unlocked, as she suspected. However, there were no lights on inside the cabin, it was pitch black. Maybe the blonde had already turned in for the night… Their last goodbyes had been a little rough, after all. She could have been upset still.

Claire carefully slipped into the room, trying to be as silent as possible. She knew her companion would still hear her. She'd barely stepped inside and found herself pressed back against the wall. "Alice," her voice was low, almost pleading. She could feel that it was the taller woman that had her pinned, though it was too dark to see.

Alice didn't give the other woman time to say anything else as she leaned in to capture her lover's lips with her own. Whatever squabble they had last parted with was insignificant at the moment. Far more important was the fact that they had some time to be together.

Apparently the redhead thought there were more pressing issues however, as she pulled back several moments later. "They're getting suspicious about you three," she said, breathless.

"Let them be suspicious," Alice reasoned easily. "I don't care." She let her lips find Claire's jaw line, eventually working her way to the other woman's neck.

The younger woman was desperately trying to keep her head on straight, but it was proving to be an almost impossible task. They needed to have a serious talk; the blonde was being incredibly persuasive at the moment though. "Alice," she managed to say through a moan.

Suddenly, they were moving. Alice pulled the other woman away from the wall, directing her along to the bed. The blonde sat down, dragging Claire down to straddle her lap. Deft hands were already making dizzying work of the redhead's clothes.

Breath was coming in short, ragged bursts for both of them. Too long had they been apart, and that overrode everything else. Claire had even forgotten about whatever it was that she'd wanted to speak with Alice about.

Claire pushed Alice back on the bed after their clothes were shed, her hair curtaining them both and placing them in their own world.

It wasn't long before the blonde had flipped them over. She took to worshiping Claire's body as thoroughly as she possibly could. The redhead had two fistfuls of sheet clutched tightly in her hands, writhing and occasionally whimpering under Alice's unbearably teasing ministrations. Right now, she was completely at the blonde's mercy – and Alice was taking full advantage of it.

Claire didn't know how long Alice teased her before her mouth opened in a silent cry of pure ecstasy as the blonde pushed her over the edge. After being away from her lover from so long and nearly unending, pleasurable torture, she was in bliss. She didn't ever want to fall back down from her high.

She smiled contently as Alice moved up next to her and was soon wrapped up in the blonde's protective embrace. This was the only place she actually felt safe. "God, I missed you," she whispered.

"I missed you too," Alice replied with a grin.

"I can tell," Claire said, nuzzling against the other woman. "But this isn't exactly why I came in tonight…"

"That's right… you were trying to say something earlier, I didn't quite catch it," Alice teased.

The redhead rolled her eyes. "Because you were being distracting," she said accusingly. "I was trying to tell you that a lot of people are getting suspicious about you, Carlos, and Jill."

"Of course they are," the blonde merely shrugged. "Everyone that has gone with us in the past few missions has died. I'd be concerned if they _weren't_ suspicious."

"Just be careful, okay? I don't know what I would do if I lost you, Alice."

"Hey, I'm not going anywhere. I think I've been forced to prove that more than enough times. Besides, I would never leave you, Claire. Come hell or high water, I'd find my way back to you."

Claire couldn't stop herself from leaning over and pressing her lips to Alice's once more. After a moment, she rolled them so that she was on top of the blonde again. "Tonight, there is no hell or high water," she said. "It's just you and me."


	4. Chapter 4

**Sorry this update took a little longer than the others. I blame Black Ops for that - it's just so damn addictive. I thought it interesting that this story is told in a similar fashion to the game; the audience gets bits from the past and present at the same time.**

**Anyways, I hope you enjoy this chapter. I'm really looking forward to the next one. It should be pretty epic. Hopefully this will hold you over until then.**

**As always: love it, hate it? Let me know.**

* * *

_Alice was incredibly subdued that day. She always was after being subjected to more of Dr. Isaacs' tests. Claire hated that she was forced to let the blonde go through that, but they had to keep their cover. They'd made a mutual decision – after quite a bit of debating - to keep things as tightly under wraps as possible._

_It had taken some persuasion on Claire's part to convince Alice that they needed to keep things quiet between themselves. It was safer for them that way. _

_Stopping Umbrella was their top priority. Someone had to keep operating to ensure it happened. This way, if one of them was found out, they other could keep going with the mission._

_They were back at the Nevada Hive facility, waiting for a mobile base of operations to be finished. As she expected, Claire found Alice in her cabin. Being the middle of the day, the rest of the corridor was abandoned._

_The room was dark; light filtered in when the redhead opened the door, but was extinguished again when she shut and locked the door behind herself. She'd caught sight of her companion in the bed, and made her way over to lay down as well._

"_Hey," Alice greeted, sounding groggy._

"_How are you feeling?" Claire inquired._

"_Tired," the blonde answered, moving much closer to the younger woman._

_Claire couldn't help but smile, wrapping her arms around Alice. "I could tell. It's the middle of the day and you're in bed."_

_The blonde muttered something completely incoherent in response. Claire held her that much closer, running a hand up and down Alice's arm in a soothing manner. They spent quite a bit of time just laying there together._

"_Do you ever wonder where we'd be if not in this mess?" the redhead finally broke their silence._

"_No," Alice said without having to think about it._

"_Never?" Claire was actually surprised by the quick answer._

"_Never. No matter how bad things are, if none of it happened… I wouldn't have you," Alice explained._

* * *

They were back up before the sun even considered making its presence over the horizon. Alice and Claire grudgingly rose from the comfort of the bed they rarely had the chance to share. The two didn't want to give themselves away for fear that it could and would likely be used against them.

So they were up before everyone else so they could vacate Alice's cabin together and not get caught. By the time they got up to the deck, the first rays of light were stretching across the sky. The air was thick and heavy with the smell of rain. Though it was still fairly dark, they could make out the storm clouds to the west.

"I guess it's going to rain," Claire observed.

"Maybe just a little," Alice quipped playfully.

Now that the sun was starting to rise, so was the rest of the crew. This was always the most annoying part of the day, when their precious time together was cut off. Alice was getting tired of having to sneak in her time with Claire – so much so that she was on the verge of ending things with Umbrella just to have the redhead to herself. It was selfish, yes, but completely reasonable in her head.

Almost as if on cue, Luther appeared on the stairs leading up to the bridge. "Claire! Come on up here for a few minutes!" he called down.

Alice was glaring daggers at the man. If she wanted to, she could end him from right where she stood. "Easy," she heard Claire warning her. "I can't believe you even _think_ that he's any sort of competition." The possessive nature of her lover was actually quite amusing at times.

"I don't like the way he looks at you," Alice sulked, crossing her arms over her chest. "He's lucky that he's still alive after interrupting us so many times."

"Don't worry, you don't have any competition. I'll find you later," Claire promised before heading up to the bridge.

Alice wasn't alone on the deck for long. "We've located another pocket of survivors," Alexander said from beside her.

She glanced over at him, seeming quite indifferent. "And you need us to go round them up?" she asked.

"They are holed up in the Baltimore convention center," the man explained, showing her a few aerial photos taken by their satellites. "There are very large biohazard numbers surrounding the facility. Rain and I will be accompanying you and your team for the mission.

That was great, just great. It was the last thing Alice and the others needed. They were going to have to do this one by the book – and that meant nabbing the survivors. She absolutely hated when she had to give in to Umbrella's orders. "We'd be happy to have you along," she lied with a nod.

"Rain is prepping a team to leave now. I expect you and agents Olivera and Valentine in the aircraft bay within ten minutes," Alexander informed her before turning to walk away.

This was definitely not the way Alice wanted to start off her day. She quickly went to retrieve the other agents, less they feel the wrath of Alexander Slater – and Umbrella's CEOs by extension.

"Do they not know it's too fucking early for something like this?" Jill grumbled under her breath as the three headed for the aircraft bay.

"What? Didn't get enough beauty sleep?" Carlos teased the woman. That little jibe earned him a hard slap on the arm.

"Come on, we're wasting time," Alexander called out as soon as he caught sight of them. He and Rain were waiting by one of the prepped helicopters.

"Oh good, babysitters," Carlos muttered as they approached.

"You'll be riding with us," Alexander stated, motioning them into the chopper. "Two helicopters will carry the rest of the team behind us."

They all boarded the helicopter and were off of the _Arcadia_ in no time. "The first objective when we hit the ground is to punch a hole in the infected mass. The second objective is to collect the survivors from within the convention center and bring them back to the _Arcadia_," Rain told them.

"We aren't children, we know how to do our job," Alice replied.

The other woman quirked a brow. "Yeah? You managed to fuck up your last four missions. I figure the clearer your mission parameters are, the less chance of another fuck up," she said.

The tension was palpable as the two stared each other down. Alice only backed off when Carlos – who was sitting beside her – gave her a faint nudge with his elbow. "Let's save that energy for the mission, yeah?" he suggested. "It'd be hard enough if it was fighting through an infected horde just to fight some more survivors, but look." He gestured out of the helicopter.

The storm that they had observed earlier was a monster, and they were flying right into the heart of it to get to their target. Brilliant white flashes of light against a black backdrop seemed to be a dark omen for their mission.


	5. Chapter 5

"_She's not just some killing machine," Claire snapped. The heat and fury of her glare was comparable to that of a thousand suns._

"_That's what they made her for," Rain replied with a nonchalant shrug. She wasn't backing down, even in light of the redhead's pissed off state._

_Claire looked like she was on the verge of completely losing her cool. "They assigned Alice to _my_ team for a reason, Rain. You're not taking her," she stated._

"_Project Alice could save a lot of people's lives on my end. Her skills would be an invaluable asset to my team. I could use half the people I normally do, putting a lot fewer people at risk."_

"_Then tell Alexander you want someone similar to Alice when he comes back. She is under my authority and that is how it's going to stay." The redhead wasn't budging on the matter._

_To the casual observers – the others sitting in the tactical room with the two women – it honestly looked like the two were about to take off the gloves and break out into a fist fight. If such a fight did occur, there was obviously going to be a lot of collateral damage._

"_Ladies, ladies… take it easy," Luther told them. "At this point in time, the people that make decisions like that one are in agreement that Project Alice is, indeed, more valuable under Ms. Redfield's command."_

"_You're kidding, right?" Rain inquired, clearly not happy with what she was hearing. "I've seen her fight… but instead, you're going to stifle her potential and turn her into yet another babysitter?"_

"_Watch it, Ocampo," Luther warned. He didn't like the attitude the woman was taking with him. "But I am serious. Until further notice, Alice will be with the retrieval team."_

"_This is bullshit," Rain shook her head, sitting back in her seat._

_Luther stood up, passing out black folders to those sitting around the table. Each folder had 'CONFIDENTIAL' stamped on the front in red ink. "Be that as it may, that's how things are staying. Now can we move on to what this meeting is really about?" he inquired. "We have some very serious topics to go over before moving forward."_

* * *

The helicopter strained against the ferocious storm as they flew into it. If their missions weren't so important, it would have been wisest to just turn around and go back to the ship. Alexander didn't take weather as an excuse to delay the mission.

As they closed in on the convention center, it became more and more apparent that maybe – just maybe – they should have brought more soldiers. Outside their target building was a mass of undead larger than any they had seen. There were hundreds trying to get to the meal that waited inside.

Rain reached up to press the button on her radio. "We're going to need some heavy back up, send another team," she relayed back to the _Arcadia_. A few moments later, she got confirmation that there were more soldiers inbound with an estimated arrival time of 15 minutes.

"I wasn't expecting such a large biohazard number," Alexander admitted, looking out the window as their helicopter circled the convention center.

"We should wait until the other support team arrives," Rain said with a nod.

Alice turned and reached behind herself, giving the pilot a couple taps on the shoulder. He nodded in confirmation and lowered their altitude; he stopped circling too.

Alice stood up, double checking her M4A1 Carbine to make sure it was ready. She had checked the H&K MP5Ks at her thighs earlier. "Carlos, Jill," she nodded and they got up as well.

"And just what do you think you're doing?" Rain demanded.

"Our job," the blonde answered easily as Jill opened up the door of the helicopter and the three tied themselves off.

Thankfully, the raging storm they were in offered plenty of cover. The undead mass had yet to notice the helicopters – the noise was canceled out by the howling wind and rain, and nearly constant thunder.

"You're not going out there until that other team gets here," Rain stated, getting up and grabbing Alice's arm.

It turned out that was a mistake though. Alice whipped around, grabbed Rain's wrist and wrenched the other woman's arm painfully around her back. "Do not touch me," she warned lowly. "And do not presume to tell me what I can and cannot do. You are not this team leader."

"Project Alice, enough," Alexander said. "I have to agree with Rain, we should wait until the other team gets here."

"By then we'll probably have been struck by lightning," Alice replied, shoving Rain back into her seat. "My team knows what they're doing." She turned back to Carlos and Jill. "Let's go."

Whatever further protests came from Alexander and Rain were lost on them. Jill and Carlos dropped out of one side of the helicopter and Alice dropped from the other. Following suit, the soldiers in the other helicopters dropped to the ground as well.

As soon as their feet hit the ground, the lines were untied. "Carlos, Jill! On me!" Alice said as she moved forward.

The driving rain was certainly annoying – cold too. Lightning flashed overhead more often than any of them could keep track. Such distractions could lead to critical errors. Thankfully, the retrieval team was extremely good at their job.

Alice's plan was to punch enough of a hole into the infected mass to get inside the convention center. They could round up the survivors inside and by that point, the other team would be there and could offer support in fighting back out.

Jill and Carlos were on the blonde's heels as she moved forward with purpose. She didn't want to draw attention too soon, nor did she want to draw it too late. About 20 feet out, she opened fire on the unsuspecting undead; that was what drew their attention.

The other members of the team followed suit and opened fire with their machine guns. The undead fell by the dozen, but for everyone that fell, three more came up in its place.

"Alice!" Carlos shouted over the noise.

The blonde didn't have to think twice about what needed to be done. The ground beneath them shook before a telekinetic wave burst forth from where Alice stood. With the telekinetic energy, Alice punched a hole in the crowd of undead. The team was on her heels, keeping the infected at bay as they moved through the hole Alice had made.

They found another obstacle when they got to the building. Entrances were locked and blocked from the inside. Luckily the blonde could take care of that, but it would leave an opening for the undead to get inside.

Another wave of telekinetic energy blew a pair of doors apart and they moved inside. "Kaplan, Nicholai, Angel, guard the door. Do _not_ lose this position," Alice ordered.

"Yes, ma'am," the three men said in unison, moving to dig into the position and guard it.

"Everyone else, on me," the blonde commanded, moving further into the dark building. She was on point, her heightened senses giving her advantage over the others.

The dark corridor opened up into a large area littered with small fires with groups of people gathered around them. Alice held up a closed fist, signaling the others to come to a quiet stop. "This is strictly retrieval, we do not open fire," she told the other soldiers. "Keep it tight, keep it clean."

The group worked their way into the open area of the center. They kept to the shadows and were silent as they moved. The team was actually able to surround the area without alerting anyone to their presence.

"On my mark," Alice's voice crackled lowly over their radios. "Now."

Everyone moved in at once. There were many more civilians than there were soldiers, but they had the element of surprise on their side. The team moved in swiftly, capturing and detaining the unsuspecting people with ease.

Once people became alerted to the threat, they scattered; many of them had already been captured though. As the civilians scattered, the team had to break formation to round them all up.

"Jill, Carlos, you keep an eye on things here, I'm going to help round up the others," Alice told them before heading down one of the dark corridors she'd seen someone flee to.

It did not take her long to track down the person. What she found surprised Alice though. She'd chased the figure down and cornered them in a bathroom. "K-Mart?" she asked in disbelief when she realized it was the blonde teen.

"Alice?" the girl questioned in return, just as surprised. "Oh God, this isn't good."

"What are you doing here?" Alice inquired.

"Chris and I… we heard the transmissions coming from the people here," K-Mart explained. "These people needed help, but then we got your message too. He took a group from this building and went to intercept the people you were sending. I stayed here to help with what I could and to look after everything until he got back."

"Alice!" they heard Rain's voice shouting from the main area of the center.

"Come on," Alice told the girl. "We'll figure this out along the way. I won't let anything happen to you." She took K-Mart by the arm and led her back down the corridor.

Rain was waiting for Alice, absolutely livid. "What the _fuck_ do you think you're doing?" she demanded. "Disobeying orders like that… you put everyone in danger. And who the hell is this?"

"None of your business," the blonde answered simply. "On the ground, this is my team. You aren't the one that I answer to, either."

Rain stepped forward; her gun was up and she looked ready to use it. "You think you can just disregard my orders?" she asked.

Alice's eyes dilated briefly and the gun flipped out of Rain's hands. "You have no authority over me, so back the _fuck_ off," she said lowly.

"Alice! Team Two is here and in position!" Kaplan's voice crackled over their radios.

"And now that you're unarmed, I suggest you stay close," the blonde told Rain. She kept K-Mart close, not letting any of the other soldiers take her.

The fight back out wasn't that hard. They had air and ground support from the second team that came in to help them. The civilians they had rounded up were herded onto the helicopters. This time Jill, Carlos, and Alice rode in a different helicopter than Rain and Alexander. K-Mart was with them too.

There wasn't time to fill Jill and Carlos in on why the teen was suddenly with them. Hopefully they'd find time on the _Arcadia_. They also had Rain to deal with, too.

If worst came to worst, though, they'd set Claire on the other woman. She'd put Rain down more than once, she could manage it again.

**And the plot thickens... Tell me what you think about it so far, yeah? Reviews offer inspiration for faster updates.**


	6. Chapter 6

**I know this update took a while, but... here it is! As always, I really love feedback so let me know what you think, yeah?**

The storm followed the Umbrella helicopters back to the Arcadia. The return was infinitely easier than the mission and even the departure. They just needed to get all their cargo off the aircraft and below deck.

As the helicopters came in for a landing, dozens of other soldiers swarmed around to help with the civilians that had been captured. For all the highly trained agents, these survivors plucked from Baltimore were no big deal – they were the first action some had seen in days because of the botched missions.

Alice got off the chopper that she, Carlos, Jill, and the newly acquired blonde teen had occupied. That was the first glimpse Alexander caught of the girl. "And who is this?" he asked over the wind and rain.

"New recruit," Alice answered rather gruffly.

"What?" he pressed, obviously not happy.

"How do you think we got some of these other agents? Not every single person we snatch goes below deck," the woman informed him.

Claire was walking over toward them, careful to mask her surprise at seeing K-Mart there with them. "Everything go well?" she asked.

Rain took the opportunity to throw in her own opinion. "Your team disobeys orders like that again and not all of them are coming back," she said, casting a meaningful glance toward Alice. "Chairman Wesker is going to hear about this."

"They don't have to follow your orders, Rain, they're _my_ team," Claire stated, making the other woman storm off in irritation. "And what do we have here?" The redhead turned her attention to Alice and the teen that had been brought back.

"A new recruit," Alice answered. "She was in the convention center."

"How old are you?" Claire asked the girl. She already knew, but now more than ever they had to keep up appearances.

"Eighteen," K-mart answered. She already knew what was at stake if she didn't play along.

"Take her down and get her settled in a cabin. I'll have Jill and Carlos come down and get her oriented," Claire ordered.

The blonde offered a nod, making it look like she grabbed K-Mart a lot more roughly than she actually did. She led the teenager below deck and to an empty cabin. She briefly glanced up to the camera in the corner of the room as the red light switched off – signifying the camera turned off.

"I don't know what we're going to do yet, just… play along," Alice advised.

"I can do that," the girl said with a nod. "I never expected you guys to show up at the convention center."

"I never expected to find you there," Alice replied. "Jill and Carlos will come check on you in a little while. You'll have to cooperate; follow orders… don't do anything to draw suspicion, okay?"

"I'll do my best," K-mart assured the older woman. "Is there any way to tell Chris…?"

"We'll figure it out. For now, just try and relax, blend in with what's going on around here." Alice gave the girl a pat on the arm before turning and heading out of the room. She was soaked to the bone and wanted nothing more than to have some time to herself.

It was a quick walk to her own secluded cabin. She decided the best idea right now was to get in a shower and just sit down to relax. Heading into the adjoining bathroom, she peeled off each piece of wet clothing that clung uncomfortably to her skin and let it plop ungracefully to the floor below. Things were starting to get far too intense, far too dangerous… the charade could last only so much longer.

Thankfully, the warm water took away the chill that had settled in her body. It helped to start clearing her head, which was what she desperately needed.

It was barely fifteen minutes after she had gone into the bathroom and she was coming back out. Alice wasn't surprised to find that she wasn't alone anymore. Claire was sitting on her bed.

"K-Mart was at the convention center?" the redhead inquired. She watched as Alice went over to pull herself some fresh clothes from the closet.

"She was," Alice confirmed with a nod. She dressed quickly – she didn't mind that Claire was watching, but she didn't want either of them to get distracted either. "I had no idea until I found her."

Claire frowned, not because of the blonde's answer, but because of her distanced demeanor. "Alice… what's wrong?" she questioned.

Alice did not look to her lover as she spoke. "Claire, this is getting too dangerous. We can't keep doing this. I can't risk someone finding out; I can't risk your safety."

The redhead's frown deepened now as she stood up and moved closer to the other woman. "Don't say that," she told Alice.

"I have to," Alice said, still refusing to look at Claire. If she did, she'd likely lose her willpower. "We're playing with fire here, and we're going to get burned. Considering what kind of fire this is, when that happens, one or both of us could be killed."

Claire reached up to turn the blonde to face her. "Why are you saying this now?"

"Rain would have shot me if I gave her the chance to while we were in the convention center. We're in too deep, Claire. We've got to start playing this more safely."

Claire couldn't believe what she was hearing. This was ridiculous. They'd been together for well over two years now and hadn't once had this conversation. "We've made it this far without any problems," she pointed out.

"We've never been this close to our goal before." Alice seemed determined; she didn't want to see the redhead get hurt.

Though the efforts were noble, it was just making Claire angry. She didn't want to lose her lover. "Just stop this, Alice," she said.

"That's what I'm trying to do so I can keep you safe."

"Damn it, Alice, you don't have to protect me!" Claire couldn't help it as her voice rose. It was a good thing the cabin was soundproof.

"Claire, please." The blonde knew she was upsetting the other woman, but this was what she thought necessary.

"No, you don't get to do that."

"Listen to me, please," Alice was to the point of pleading with the other woman. "I would never forgive myself if something happened to you. I don't think I could survive it if I lost you. So, I'm going to do everything in my power to protect you. It's better this way." Though they were in her cabin, she turned and walked out, not leaving the redhead any room to further the argument.

"Alice! … Alice!" Claire called after her. The shouts fell on deaf ears, because Alice rounded a corner and didn't once look back.

* * *

_Project Alice had been active for barely even a month, but everyone was thoroughly impressed with her progress. Unfortunately for those loyal to Umbrella, her loyalties had already been swayed elsewhere. The group was very small, but it had to be. Too many people offered up too many liabilities._

_After leaving the Detroit facility the first time, the group charged with Project Alice was shipped around to a few different facilities; various specialists absolutely insisted upon getting some firsthand studying of her. The constant moving made it very hard for any strategies to be formulated._

_Finally, they settled back at the Detroit facility for a little while. It was a hub of activity, which gave them the opportunity to gather and talk about what they wanted to achieve – and what they were willing to risk._

_It was not uncommon for Alice, Claire, Jill, and Carlos to gather together. That was no problem at all. Getting anyone else into the same place at the same time proved more difficult. To further complicate the situation, they needed the cooperation of an entity beyond their group to ensure there was no surveillance of their meeting._

_The four had taken over one of the currently unused offices. The office walls were made of glass, but Umbrella had made their own version of switchable film glass – that made it infinitely easier for the group to keep out unwanted observers. While opaque, the glass was absolutely impossible to see through and with Claire's fairly high level of clearance, she was able to punch in a code to keep it that way._

_They waited nearly twenty minutes for their last expected guest to arrive. Considering how few people in the facility had a clearance level equivalent to Claire, the threat of unauthorized intrusion was minimal. Still, when the door opened, they tensed out of instinct._

"_Relax," Rain told them as she stepped inside the office and shut the door behind herself. "The boogeyman isn't coming to get you… yet."_

"_We were beginning to think you wouldn't show," Claire commented._

_Rain walked over and dropped into a chair, leaning back and kicking her feet up onto the table they were sitting at. "Somebody's gotta do some work around here, Redfield. So where are we at?"_

"_One of us is going to have to get into deeper cover. It's going to be a lot more dangerous, but the information we're getting now just isn't enough," Claire answered, looking between the others. "We need someone to get closer. It's going to be a huge risk, especially since whoever takes the challenge won't have any back up at all."_

_There was silence for several long moments. Getting further into Umbrella would be a hard and possibly fatal task. It wasn't something to rush headlong into without considering all the consequences._

"_I'll do it," Rain finally spoke up. She reached up, locking her fingers behind her head – far too nonchalant about the situation._

"_You do realize what you're saying?" Jill asked, raising a skeptical brow._

"_I'm the only one here who's not going to cut and run crying to Mommy at the first sign of trouble," Rain said with a nod. "If we're going to take these fuckers down, somebody with balls is going to have to get in there and get the job done."_

"_If things go wrong, we aren't going to be able to help you," Claire pointed out._

_Rain merely shrugged at that. "That's fine. I do better on my own anyway. I'd rather not have the rest of you weighing me down while I work my magic."_

_The redhead thought things over for a few moments before nodding. "Then it's settled. It's going to take a lot of work to get inside and you're going to have to be believable. You do _whatever_ you think is necessary."_

"_Oh… you don't have to worry about that, Redfield," Rain assured her._


	7. Chapter 7

**This was a little delayed too, but so are the ways of college. That's coming to a close at the moment so maybe I can really get going on this story again. I'm really excited about it again and this cues a HUGE shout out to andrella07 for continued inspiration and helping me figure this story out one piece at a time.**

* * *

"_Are you sure you can cut communication?" Carlos leaned over and asked Alice in little more than a whisper. Their estimated time of arrival for the mission was five minutes – all three of them were feeling a little uptight._

"_I'm going to try," Alice answered with a nod._

"_And you're sure she'll cover the glitch so no one notices?" the man pressed._

_Alice glanced over at him. "Yes, I'm sure. I told you, we have an agreement. We wouldn't be trying this otherwise."_

_He nodded and settled back in his seat between Alice and Jill. They'd been working toward this point for a long time, but now that they were here, he almost wished they weren't. This would be their most dangerous stunt yet – hell, it was just a test drive. It could very well go wrong and they'd wind up dead; at least, he and Jill would wind up dead, something far worse would likely befall Alice._

_Their pilot turned around briefly to address them. "Get ready, we're about to touchdown," he announced._

_The three seemingly perfect soldiers nodded at the same time, securing their weapons. They knew exactly what would happen when they hit the ground. Alice would take out the pilot of their helicopter while Jill and Carlos went out to meet the other soldiers. As they started to move in, Alice would use her telekinetic powers to short out all of their communications devices. With a bit of luck and cooperation from even deeper inside, the satellite feed would either go black or be manipulated. The loss of radio contact would cause a stir and that was when the three seemingly perfect soldiers would make their move._

_The landing was a bit rough – the mountainous terrain wasn't kind to the helicopter – but that didn't hinder their plan. Jill and Carlos got down while Alice stepped forward and snapped the pilot's neck. Her eyes dilated afterward and all of her focus went to disabling all means of communication. It was no easy task; there were three helicopter radios, plus two dozen soldiers that had individual communication devices. Where she had hoped to take about fifteen seconds to completely shut down communication, it took nearly a full minute._

_That forty-five seconds actually made quite difference. By the time she was done, she had to use the pilot's chair to hold herself up until the disorientation passed, and the other soldiers were already suspicious._

_However, once she left the helicopter, it didn't matter. The soldiers had formed up just like they expected and were actually quite easy to take out. The odds may have been stacked against them – three to two dozen – but the other soldiers were completely unsuspecting._

_It didn't even take them ten minutes after the helicopters had touched down before Alice, Jill, and Carlos were the last ones standing. Those had been ten intense minutes, especially once the others found out what was going on, but it did a great deal for their morale. Maybe, just maybe they could come out of this successful._

_They'd have time to reflect upon their boosted morale later though. A man emerged from the cabin they'd been sent to raid. "Are you guys making enough noise out here?" he asked._

_Alice turned to look at who was speaking to them and couldn't help the faint grin that formed on her features. "Nice to see you too, Chris," she greeted him._

_Chris Redfield stepped forward, surveying the carnage. "Quite a mess," he commented, but didn't linger on the subject for long. "How's Claire?"_

"_She's fine," the blonde assured him with a nod. "She wanted to make sure I told you to take care of yourself and stay safe. Being on the outside is almost as dangerous as being on the inside now."_

"_I can take care of myself," the man replied. "I've got half a dozen people inside that I'm moving northward, plus I just picked up on another group's signals."_

"_Alice!" The conversation was suddenly interrupted as a blonde teen emerged from the cabin and made her way over to embrace the woman in question._

"_What? I'm not good enough for a hug?" Carlos asked, feigning disappointment. The teen smiled widely and moved over to hug him as well. "Good to see you too, K-mart."_

"_We managed to set up a stop for you in Montana, just outside Hardin. Here's a map." Jill offered Chris a bit of paper as she put their talk back on track. They didn't have a lot of time to be distracted. "You'll find food, clothes, and ammunition there."_

"_Thank you," Chris said, looking over the map. "This will really help."_

"_Be careful," Alice told him once more. "We're doing what we can to hinder Umbrella, but that doesn't mean this world is any safer."_

_It wouldn't even be safe after they took down the corporation._

* * *

After leaving Claire in her cabin, Alice had gone to the galley and managed to get sucked into a rousing game of poker with Carlos and a few other Umbrella agents. They were betting food and cigarettes – the only things besides ammunition that still held worth.

They'd been playing for well over two hours, getting louder and more competitive with each hand played. The others swore Carlos was cheating, but he attested it to his awesome poker face – which he informed them couldn't be beat because said poker face was partially covered by an eye patch.

Their frivolity, however, didn't last. "Project Alice to the conference room," a voice boomed over the intercom system. It sounded like Luther.

"What'd you do this time?" Carlos asked, nudging her with his elbow.

"I didn't do anything, but I really wish they'd realize my name is Alice. Not Project Alice," she said. As she got up, she tossed her current hand down on the table and grabbed the pack of smokes that was now hers before leaving the galley.

Though the ship was large, it was a quick trip to the conference room. Inside, she found Alexander waiting for her. "Please, have a seat," he told her, motioning to one of the chairs.

"What's this about?" the blonde inquired as she walked over and sat down.

"Rain has lodged a formal complaint against you to Chairman Wesker for insubordination," Alexander said, flipping through a folder on the table between them.

"I was doing my job," Alice pointed out. "And if I didn't, it would have put all of us at risk because of the storm."

"You didn't let me finish," he stated calmly, looking up to her. "The complaint is nothing to worry about. I explained the situation to Chairman Wesker and he was quite pleased with your performance. It shows your ability to think decisively in hard situations, which only increases your worth to this company."

"Then why do I feel like I'm about to get a lecture about being a good girl and following orders?" Alice inquired.

"You're not," the man shook his head. "This little meeting of ours is only to inform you that Chairman Wesker has decided to come see this company in person, mostly because of his interest in you."

For the first time in a long time, Alice was shocked. Wesker was coming to the _Arcadia_? Hell, they weren't ready for that. It would likely be their only chance to get to him, but things weren't completely in place yet.

"Your surprise is to be expected," Alexander started speaking again after a few moments of silence. "It is very uncommon for Chairman Wesker to make personal visits. You have shown increasing abilities from day one, Alice, and that has not gone unnoticed. He wants to see things for himself."

"It will be an honor to have him here." Alice covered her earlier shock with a cool lie. "When can we expect him?"

"That is yet to be determined," Alexander answered, standing up and grabbing the folder from the table. "But I thought such exciting news, especially when it can all be credited to you, was worth sharing." Without so much as a second thought, he stepped past her and left the room.

Alice took in a deep breath, letting it out slowly as she leaned forward against the table, head resting in her hands.

"You've been very naughty," a snotty, English accent laced young voice said from beside her.

The blonde let out a mirthless laugh, shifting just enough to look over to the projection of the White Queen. "Yeah? So have you," she replied.


	8. Chapter 8

**I'd like to apologize for letting life get in the way of my writing yet again. I promise to make it all up to, my dear readers. This chapter is a bit short, but I promise the next couple of chapters will be on the epic scale you've come to expect from this story. I'll give you fair warning, this story will take a turn for the dark side after this chapter. Why? Because the dark side has homemade, fresh baked cookies, and I'm a sucker for homemade cookies.**

**As always, I love knowing what you think, so send some reviews my way. I'd really like to know that you enjoy the story before things take a turn for the worst and you start to not like me.**

**And! One last thing, I promise. The italics at the end of this chapter are not a flashback. I wanted to point that out to avoid any confusion.**

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* * *

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"Chairman Wesker has yet to announce when he plans to board the _Arcadia_," the White Queen stated.

Alice rolled her eyes and shook her head. "Alexander just told me the same thing," she pointed out.

"He will have to put the arrangements into the system at least twenty-four hours before traveling for security purposes. You will have at least that much warning. Might I suggest a limitation in the display of your powers? The Chairman's attention has been on you intensely for several weeks now, especially after a top secret experiment at the Tokyo Facility."

"Experiment?" Alice echoed the Artificial Intelligence unit. "What kind of experiment?"

"It was top secret," the White Queen repeated. If she had it in her to roll her eyes, she would have. "I tried to access the information about it, but have yet to be successful."

If not even the White Queen could get to it, then there was definitely something big going on. "All right, well thanks for the head's up," the blonde told her.

"I'm not quite done," the hologram informed Alice. "My systems indicate that my continued support of your mission is no longer logical. What you have done so far has been and will remain expunged from the system, however I cannot say that further misconducts will be so easily hidden."

Alice was honestly surprised. If the Artificial Intelligence unit was switching to self-preservation mode, things were getting bad. Not that she didn't know that already, but still. "You were built to help stop the spread of the infection and preserve what's left of the human race."

The White Queen considered the statement for a moment before responding. "Far less than one percent of the human race remains unaffected. Your efforts now are futile. Those you have managed to save are barely holding off the inevitable. It is only a matter of time before the Corporation finds out where these survivors are staying and retrieves them as well."

Without even giving Alice time to argue, the hologram disappeared. "Fuck," the blonde swore, resting her head in her hands again.

She stayed in the conference room for a few minutes longer, trying to gather and reign in her thoughts and sudden anxiety, before getting up and leaving. It was well after dark by that point – maybe rest would do her some good.

How could she rest now? She needed to talk to Jill, Carlos… and Claire. Or she could leave them out of it and try to figure out how to fix this on her own. If she acted alone, she could keep them safe. They'd all agreed to this though, they knew the risks and would take any consequence.

Wesker's visit wasn't something they had planned for though. Yes, they knew a face down with the Umbrella Chairman was inevitable, but now? They weren't ready for it.

Eventually Alice got up and headed out of the conference room. Her path back down below deck led her through the bridge. She was just in time to hear an incoming transmission between the ship's captain and someone she didn't recognize.

"_This is Peyton Wells with the Special Task Force, requesting permission to approach and board the _Arcadia_. We have some special cargo that you need to see as soon as possible._" The voice crackled over the radio.

The ship's captain picked up the handset to their radio. "What is the nature of your cargo, lieutenant?"

"_Civilians, one in particular coded as top priority, sir._"

The captain seemed to think it over for a moment before responding. "Permission granted, Peyton. What is your estimated time of arrival?"

"_Estimated time of arrival is four hours, we're pretty far away from your ship_."

"Four hours, confirmed. We'll be waiting for you." It would still be dark then, but they could light up the ship's deck well enough to put the old Las Vegas to shame.

Alice only lingered on the bridge long enough to listen to the transmission before she left. Now someone else was coming to their ship?

For some reason, she honestly didn't think any of this was going to end well.

Though she was uncertain as to whether or not she'd be able to sleep, Alice headed back below deck. She wasn't heading for her own cabin right away. Her feet took her to a certain redhead's cabin, stopping outside. She reached up a hand, resting it against the door. Claire was inside, she knew it. She had half a mind to knock and ask forgiveness for their fight earlier.

After several long moments of hesitation, the blonde turned and headed down the hallway. It didn't take her long to get to her own cabin, and dropped into her bed. Even if she was uptight, sleep mercifully took her for a while.

_She was on the deck of the _Arcadia_. No one was in sight; there was no movement, no sound. There was an eerie quality about the atmosphere._

_As she looked around, an unpleasant chill ran down her spine. The water below the ship wasn't blue, it was red – it was blood. As far as the eye could see, the entirety of the ocean was blood. That wasn't possible though. She was just imagining things. The stress of their situation was wearing on her, that was all._

_She heard a faint noise from behind her and whirled around. Alice found herself face to face with a man she'd only ever seen as a hologram – Albert Wesker._

_He pulled off his sunglasses as she turned to face him, his eyes flashing red briefly. "You're all going to die," he stated simply. There was a cold edge to his voice, something that only furthered the unpleasant feeling creeping in her gut. "I'm going to kill you all one by one… but I'll save you for last, Project Alice. I want you to see just how bad your mistakes were, thinking you could fool me."_

"_What are you talking about?" Alice questioned. As she looked past Wesker, she could see her friends behind him – Claire, Chris, K-mart, Jill, Carlos. She attempted to step forward to go to them, but he was in her way._

"_I'm going to make you regret everything," the man said, putting his sunglasses back on. "You'll know what true pain is and you'll beg me for death before it's over."_


	9. Chapter 9

**Yes, I'm already updating again. Consider this my Christmas - or whatever holiday you may happen to celebrate - present to you. I don't really think you're going to like it and unfortunately I lost the receipt, so there'll be no returning it. **

**Oh, and don't waste your money on hiring assassins to come after me. Not only have I rented out a secret bunker to keep myself safe in, but I am also a rather accomplished fighter.**

**So I hope you all are in a seated position and strapped in, because this is going to be one hell of a bumpy ride. And just so you know... there is a major character death in this chapter and there are going to be many more to come.**

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"Alice! Alice!" The blonde jerked awake at the sound of pounding on her door. Through her groggy haze, she realized that it was Carlos outside the cabin. "Alice!"

She pulled herself from the bed, walking over and opening the door. "What is it, Carlos?" she inquired.

"Wesker's chopper is about to land and there's another team inbound in fifteen minutes with some kind of cargo," the man told her.

Alice's eyes widened. The White Queen had said Wesker would need to make changes to the system before he came. It hadn't even been four hours since she'd come to her cabin. "That's just great," she shook her head. "Okay, just keep it calm. We'll figure this out. Did you let Jill and Claire know?"

"I told Jill, I haven't made it to Claire's cabin yet," Carlos answered.

"Let me go tell her. You and Jill go get ready in case this comes down a fight," Alice advised. She stepped out of her cabin and walked down the hall to the cabin that the redhead was staying in. This time when she stopped, she actually knocked.

A few moments ticked by in silence before she heard a clicking sound as Claire unlocked the door and then opened it up. "Alice?" she asked, obviously surprised.

"Wesker's here," the blonde told her point blank. "Carlos just informed me that his chopper is about to touch down on board, it probably has already."

"Are you… are you sure?" There had to be some sort of mistake. They weren't ready to face Umbrella's Chairman.

"Listen, Claire, about our fight earlier -" Alice started to speak again but was silenced as the redhead held up a hand.

"I said I love you and I swear I still do," Claire told her before leaning in for a quick kiss. "I mean it, no matter what."

Alice couldn't help but smile at that. "I love you, too."

"If Wesker's here, we should head up to the deck and find out what's going on… see what kind of trouble we're in for," the redhead stated as she stepped out of her cabin. Neither of them had much in the way of weapons on them, but hopefully they wouldn't need weapons – and if they did, hopefully Carlos and Jill had them covered.

The two headed up to the deck together, finding that Wesker was just stepping off his osprey as they arrived. There was a small army of elite guards around to keep the Chairman safe. Albert Wesker didn't look like a man that needed protection though.

"Welcome to the _Arcadia_, Chairman Wesker, it's an honor to have you here, sir," the captain greeted the other man. "I must admit, your arrival on such short notice was quite a surprise. The White Queen won't be able to update quickly enough, even if the updates are put in manually."

"There's no need," Wesker stated, looking over everyone on deck. His attention soon settled on Alice and Claire. "We won't be here that long."

A younger agent jogged across the deck to the group. "Captain, Lieutenant Wells and his company are on their final approach."

"Thank you," the captain said with a nod before returning his attention to Wesker. "The lieutenant is bringing in some civilians, one he's labeled as top priority."

The Chairman mulled it over before nodding. "We'll all wait for him then, and see just what this special cargo is."

Alice reached over and lightly touched Claire's arm to get the redhead's attention, indicating for the other woman to follow her. They went over and joined Jill and Carlos. "Who the hell is Wells bringing in?" Jill asked.

"I don't know, but I have a feeling this is going to get really bad, really fast," Alice said. She couldn't shake the feeling that the dream had been an indication of things to come and she honestly didn't know how to change it. "Be ready for a fight, because I'm pretty sure that's what it will come down to."

"No problem. We'll just get a chopper and you sink the ship, end of story," Carlos replied.

The blonde shook her head. "I don't think it's going to be that simple."

They fell silent as Rain emerged on the deck and went over to speak with the Umbrella Chairman. It was impossible to hear what was said, even for Alice, as two more helicopters approached the ship and touched down.

Peyton was the first one to step off onto the ship, saluting the captain. It was obvious that he was surprised to see Wesker approach him. "Civilian cargo, correct?" the Chairman asked, earning a nod. "I think our special retrieval team should come over for this, considering retrieval is their _only_ priority."

Claire glanced at the other three before leading the way over toward the helicopter. "Chairman Wesker," she greeted as they approached.

The man was much more imposing in person than simply as a hologram. There was something threatening about him, something that was just inherently evil.

"Now… Lieutenant Wells, let's see what this 'top priority' cargo of yours is," the Chairman said, looking back to the helicopter expectantly.

"Bring 'im out," Peyton called inside. They could all hear some struggling from inside and a few moments after, two black suited agents shoved a man out before jumping down after him to pull him back to his feet.

"Chris," Claire gasped before she could stop herself.

Wesker sneered at her reaction. "Well, isn't this just one big family reunion? Chris and Claire Redfield…" Before anyone could react, he had one of his Mark XIX Desert Eagles in hand and fired. The .50 AE round – which was more suitable to defend against a bear attack than to simply shoot someone – caused an obscene amount of damage as it ripped through its intended target.

Alice's eyes widened in absolute horror. "_Claire_!" She caught the falling woman, gently lowering to the ground with her. Her breath caught and chest constricted painfully as she watched the redhead struggle for air. Their eyes locked and a single look conveyed everything that words didn't have time for: _I love you and I'm sorry_.

"No, no, no, no, please no," Alice was practically begging as the woman became slack in her arms. It was too late for begging though, Claire was gone – and the rest of them were likely soon to follow.


	10. Chapter 10

**All right, my faithful readers, your patience with this story has paid off once again. Here is the tenth and final installment of my little story. Only ten chapters you ask? Yes, dear kiddies, there are only ten. Why? I think that will become abundantly clear by the end of this chapter. Don't lose complete faith though. I'm toying with the idea of an epilogue, just to make sure you all don't kill me. Yet.  
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**Now, please read on and enjoy. Oh, the writing of an epilogue will largely depend on if you, my dear readers, want one - so let me know.**

**Warning - major character deaths (actually, I think it should just be called carnage).**

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Alice honestly didn't know what happened in the few moments immediately following Claire's murder. When reality came crashing by like ten tons of bricks, she realized there was no time to think or plan – there was only time to act.

Reborn from the ashes of utter sorrow like a vengeful phoenix, she rose from her spot with a single goal: killing Wesker.

Jill and Carlos had managed to get a hold of Chris and fell back behind one of the helicopters for cover. Apparently everything had already gone to hell, because gunfire pierced the air in a nearly nonstop torrent.

Alice's eyes dilated as she tore apart some of the deck, using her telekinetic abilities to propel a group of soldiers overboard. Wesker wasn't in immediate sight, but she'd find him. First, however, she had to make sure the others could hold their own so she fell back to the bit of protection they'd gotten themselves.

"We're not going to make it out of this," Carlos said as she joined them. He'd just finished getting Chris out of his restraints.

"Give me a fucking gun," Chris demanded. "I want to kill the bastard that shot Claire."

"You're not going to kill him, I am," Alice said, almost too calm. "I'll be the only one able to get close enough. You need to find K-mart and get the hell out of here, all of you."

"We can't just leave you," Jill protested.

"You can and you will," Alice told her. "I'm not giving you a choice in the matter. We never expected it to come to this, get yourselves out now."

She didn't give them more time to argue, grabbing one of Carlos's pistols before turning and leaving the bit of cover offered by the helicopter. The dozen agents that were closest got taken out by the pistol and Alice snatched the carbine from a fallen body. She used it to gun down more of Umbrella soldiers, doing her best to avoid getting shot herself.

There had only been about twenty soldiers on deck when everything started, but more were starting to flood out from below deck. It would only be a matter of moments before they were overrun.

"Go now!" Alice shouted to the others. She would be able to keep the cover up just long enough for them to slip away to find K-mart, then get off the ship.

The three emerged from behind the helicopter. Jill and Chris took the lead, their aim to get below deck. The blonde only had time to spare them a quick glance before having to focus on not only holding off the soldiers, but getting her hands on another weapon.

Gunfire suddenly erupted next to Alice and she spared another glance from the fight at hand. "Carlos? Go with Jill and Chris!" she ordered.

"And leave you by yourself? No way," the man shook his head, taking out a few other soldiers.

Another wave of Umbrella soldiers rushed up on deck as Alice swore under her breath and scooped up another gun. This was just getting worse and worse. They needed to throw this fight around in their favor – but they'd never taken on this many before.

Alice opened fire as another handful of soldiers rushed them. Each went down in turn, but not quite fast enough. The first indication of trouble was hearing Carlos groan. The blonde looked over in time to see him drop to one knee before jerking as he was shot again. She took out the soldiers that posed the most significant threat before dropping down next to her fallen comrade.

Carlos reached up and took hold of a few grenades, offering them to Alice with a shaking, bloody hand. "Take these… send those bastards… to hell," he told her.

"You got it," Alice replied with a nod, taking the grenades.

"Go. Don't waste… your time with me," the dying man said through labored pants for air.

"Thank you, Carlos." Alice stood and pulled the pins out of all three grenades at once. Another swarm of soldiers was closing in on her. She waited until the last possible second – right before the grenades would have exploded in her hand – to toss them into the approaching mass.

Her actions had the desired effect. The Umbrella soldiers didn't have time to stop and turn around. Those impacted by the initial explosions weren't the only ones to get caught in the fire. Alice's pupils dilated as she manipulated the flames that spilled forth from the explosions until fire consumed the whole of the deck.

As the flames died away, Alice relaxed. That cut out a large chunk of those on board. Without missing a beat, she headed below deck. Wesker had vanished from sight and she knew he was somewhere below. He wasn't going to get away that easily, not after he had killed Claire.

She could hear gunfire from somewhere ahead of her. That couldn't be good. There were only so many people that would shoot at each other. She increased her pace and rounded a corner just in time to take a bullet herself. Pain seared through her shoulder, but it didn't faze her in the least.

She bent to scoop up a discarded pistol before pulling K-mart aside for cover from a doorway. "Take this," she instructed, handing the gun over to the teen. Chris was across the hall from them and Jill was lying motionless in the middle of the floor, having taken several bullets. "You two need to get out of here. Now."

"Yeah, we tried that," Chris snapped, the stress of the situation getting to him.

"Come out and give up!" It was Luther's voice coming from the opposite end of the corridor. "You're outnumbered!" The shoot out had stopped momentarily while Luther and the other soldiers waited to see if they would obey.

"When I move, you two get out of here," Alice told Chris and K-mart.

"Alice, we can't just leave you," the teen protested.

"You can. You have to, K," Alice said. "I need to make sure you get out of here." She didn't wait for further protests as she stepped out into the hall again.

"Project Alice, I order you to stand down," Luther commanded.

"Too bad," the blonde replied. Her pupils dilated and the soldiers around Luther were sent flying back into the far wall. She heard movement behind her and had to trust that Chris and K-mart were leaving. Her focus had to remain where it was.

Luther reached to grab at his head, pain filling every single inch of it. Blood began to seep from his eyes, nose, mouth, and ears. He was trying to fight it, but the effort was futile as he dropped to the floor moments later, lifeless.

Alice's eyes returned to normal after that and she continued her trek further into the ship. She would have stopped to arm herself again, but she didn't think it would be necessary. She'd deal with Wesker on a much more personal level.

It took her a few minutes, but eventually she found Wesker. He was in the large training area on one of the lowest levels of the ship. He wasn't alone though, Rain was with him.

"I knew things would turn out this way," he said with a sneer. "Progress always has a steep price to pay."

"Your _progress_ stops here," Alice stated, slowly closing the distance between them.

"No, this is just the beginning," Wesker replied. "You and I could have ruled this world, but I never expected you to understand logic."

"What are you talking about?" the blonde questioned. Ruling the world? He must have gone mad at some point.

"He's infected," Rain cut in before the man could answer. "On the same level as you, but with a different strand of the virus."

"Now you've gone and ruined my surprise," Wesker chastised with a shake of his head. "No matter, she would have found out when I killed her."

"Why am I not surprised?" Alice asked. "Sorry to ruin your plans, but I'm not going to be the one that dies here. You are, Wesker."

"Rain, shoot her," the Umbrella Chairman ordered.

There was a hesitation before Rain lifted her M16. At first, she aimed at Alice and the blonde actually thought the other woman was going to follow his orders. Right before pulling the trigger, Rain swung the gun around at Wesker.

Only a handful of shots managed to escape the gun. The Chairman showed an impressive display of speed – one that even surprised Alice – by dodging the bullets and closing the little distance between himself and the dark haired woman. He grabbed Rain by the throat, yanking the gun from her hands. He used the weapon to hit her in the gut and then over the head before literally throwing the woman against the far wall – hard enough to leave a dent.

The distraction, though not a desirable one, gave Alice time to come up behind Wesker. She kicked the back of his knee before bringing her forearm against the side of his face as he dropped down.

Wesker recovered more quickly than Alice would have liked. He hadn't even completely dropped to his knee before he was coming back up, twisting to face her. She saw his eyes flash red behind dark sunglasses before a fist connected with her jaw. She ducked to miss his next swing, plowing into his gut with her shoulder. He grunted and stumbled back a few steps before regaining his footing.

The next thing Alice knew, he had a hold of the back of her shirt and swung her around with all the added strength the virus gave him before letting go. She was flung through the air and when she connected with the wall, it wasn't strong enough to withstand the impact. The metal gave way with a sickening howl as it broke apart, letting her fly into the next room to hit the far wall there and drop to the ground.

Everything spun around her for a few moments as she slowly pushed herself up. Alice could feel blood running down both her arms and across her back. The jagged metal cut her deeply in several places as she'd flown right through it. _Get up_, she told herself, _finish this._

She could hear gunfire from the other room. Rain must have been back up. Alice got to her feet and stumbled back over to the opening in the wall she'd made. Just as she thought, the other woman was back up – she looked worse for wear, but was still fighting.

Wesker was dodging the bullets from the machine gun with ease; it was alarming. The ammunition didn't last very long and Rain swore rather loudly once she was out. Wesker was upon her in the blink of an eye and grabbed the woman.

"I expected better of you, Rain," he said with a shake of his head and she struggled in his grip. With his free hand, he pulled out one of his Desert Eagles. "What a waste." He brought the gun up and shot her point blank, letting her fall to the ground and she slackened in his grip.

Wesker turned to figure out what had happened to Alice, only to find himself face to face with her. "You've taken everything from me," she accused lowly, jerking one of her hands up. She'd yanked a piece of metal free from the wall, and now that metal was embedded as deeply in Wesker's stomach as she could manage.

The Chairman only smirked – that damn arrogant smirk that ignited even more fury in her. He pulled her hand away from him then yanked the piece of metal out of himself. "You still have one more thing to lose, Alice: your life."

She didn't even have time to react as his fist connected with her several times. With his enhanced strength, the pain was blinding and it was all she could do to even stay on her feet. How could she think that she could win? She was just one person, Umbrella was huge…

The next thing she knew, Alice was pulled back against Wesker and his arm was locked around her throat. She struggled to free herself, but he was just too strong. "How does it feel, Alice?" he inquired. "All your little plans have come crashing down around you, your friends are dead, and now you're going to join them. Everything you've fought for was for _nothing_."

Was he right? They fought so hard to bring Umbrella down. They'd gotten so far. Nothing was left though. In the end, none of their struggle mattered – nothing mattered anymore.

"Would you like me to kill you quickly? Just get it over with?" The Umbrella Chairman tightened his grip on her.

"You can go… to hell," Alice managed to choke out.

"Why don't you save me a spot? Actually, don't bother. I'll never die, you can rot alone," Wesker told her. He was about to continue speaking, but stopped abruptly – a grunt was the only thing that left him. A few moments of silence passed before a spasm rocked his once sturdy body and he let go of Alice.

"What have you done?" he demanded, tone accusing.

Alice actually hadn't done anything. Wesker had sealed his own demise – and hers as well. When he grabbed her, he hadn't even considered the fact that they both had open wounds and there was no telling what would happen if their blood mingled. The thought had never crossed his mind, because according to himself, he was immortal.

The man stumbled backwards a few paces before dropping to his knees, a cry of pure agony escaping him. There was no such thing as immortality, not for any of them.

Alice got a taste of what he was going through as it felt like her veins ignited with fire, emanating from one of the wounds at her back. She couldn't be completely sure, but she thought she understood. She and Wesker were infected with two different viruses. They both had open wounds and the way he'd had her pinned against him, it was inevitable that their blood would mix.

Everything was starting to go hazy for the blonde as the fire inside her body got more and more intense. If hell was truly waiting for her, she was certain this was just a small preview.

A seizure sent her to the ground and was quickly followed by another. No wonder Wesker had been shouting. A war of the viruses within the body was taking place in both of them, and it was nothing less than utterly excruciating. Alice couldn't even find the strength to cry out her agony.

_Shh, it's all right now_. The voice sounded so far away, but was so incredibly familiar. It couldn't be real though.

"Claire?" Somehow, her own voice managed to find a way to work.

_I've got you now and everything is going to be fine. Just relax._ Suddenly, the redhead was beside her. She wasn't clad in the usual Umbrella garb, just simple clothes, and there seemed to be a glow about her. Alice felt an incredible amount of comforting warmth as loving arms surrounded her.

"H-how?" It was getting harder to speak, even though she didn't really feel words were needed.

_Don't you worry about that. I'm here to take you home. All you have to do is close your eyes, Alice. Just close your eyes._

The blonde was more than happy to comply. She did as Claire bid her and as her eyes closed, she felt no more pain.

"Alice!" K-mart shrieked as she and Chris burst into the large room.

"K-mart, stop!" Chris called after the teen.

She didn't listen to him, running across the space that separated them from their fallen friend. She dropped to her knees next to Alice, reaching a shaking hand over to touch the woman. "She… she's dead."

Chris walked over to Wesker, whose body was still being wracked by involuntary tremors. There was no sign of life though. "He's dead, too," Chris announced after a moment. He shook his head and walked over to K-mart, pulling her to her feet. "Come on, we have to get out of here. We can't do anything else."

It wasn't the ideal end to their struggle with Umbrella, but somehow Alice had managed to cut the head off of the serpent. That gave what few survivors were left in the world more hope than they'd had since the outbreak.


	11. Epilogue

**So I'm pretty sure writing this put me into a diabetic coma for a while... I suppose I just can't leave Alice and Claire hanging like that because I see so many parallels between myself and them.**

**I hope you like this ridiculously sappy, albeit incredibly short epilogue, and I really do hope you've enjoyed reading this story.**

**Until next time, my dear readers...**

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When Alice opened her eyes, she found herself in completely foreign surroundings, but there was a strange comfort about them. She could feel an impossibly soft bed beneath her, warm sheets around her, and…

The blonde rolled over to find she wasn't alone in bed. She was met by a familiar, beautiful gaze. "I was beginning to think you wouldn't wake up," Claire teased with a grin.

Alice couldn't help the lazy smile that spread across her features. "What happened?" she inquired.

The redhead thought it over for a moment before merely shrugging. "We finished what we set out to do; now we don't have to worry about anything else."

Alice didn't really remember much before waking up in bed with Claire. Where had they been? On the _Arcadia_… the fight with Umbrella… the fight with Wesker… A hand on her cheek pulled her back from her thoughts. "Don't think about any of that," Claire told her. "That's all over now."

Alice reached up to place a hand over Claire's, just to make sure it stayed where it was. "I thought I had lost you forever," she confessed.

"I'm right here," the redhead pointed out with a warm smile. She leaned forward and pressed her lips to Alice's, just to further prove her point. The kiss lingered for a few moments before she pulled back. "See?"

"I do," Alice confirmed with a nod.

Claire smiled once more before she fully pulled away, getting out of the bed. Apparently Alice had been too distracted to realize that neither of them had clothes on, but she took complete advantage of it as she let her eyes slide over the redhead's toned form. Claire grabbed a robe, pulling it around herself before turning to face the blonde again. "Just going to stay in bed all day?" she questioned, quirking a brow. She didn't wait for a response, taking a few steps away and disappearing out of the room.

Alice pouted at the loss of her companion briefly, but was quick to remedy the situation. She got out of bed, grabbing a shirt and pair of pants to tug on quickly before heading after the redhead. Though she wasn't sure where the redhead had gotten off to, she wandered out of the bedroom. "Claire?"

"You have to find me," the redhead called out teasingly.

Alice smiled once more, heading down the hall of the small house. There wasn't much to it; it was simple, it was small, and it fit them just fine. Light was streaming in through open windows, curtains ruffled by a light breeze. On the air, she could smell salt – like the ocean.

The blonde found her way to the sitting room, the front door to the house open. She stepped out onto the wooden deck and was instantly hit by an overwhelming sense of peace and calm. The only thing it could be compared to was being in Claire's arms.

Speaking of the redhead, she spotted the other woman a few yards in front of the house, standing in the sand of a spotless beach – her hair and robe swaying in the breeze. The sound of waves rolling against the beach only furthered the calm atmosphere. As Alice left the deck and the shade it provided, she felt warmth from the sun in the sky high above them.

Barefoot, Alice crossed the distance between her and her lover, wrapping her arms around Claire from behind. "This is nice," she said. "I could get used to it."

Claire leaned back against the blonde, watching the water before them. "This is how it's going to be from now on, just you and me," she replied. "We're home now."


End file.
